1881—82.] HUNT WE MUST. 423 



pleasant through a succession of hand gates the narrowest and 

 most inconvenient imaginable. Importunately, jNIonday always 

 brings with it a fresh accession of good-humour, as certainly 

 as it does of hojie and keenness. The world that may have 

 looked black, unfriendly, and unpromising, to a mind relaxed 

 and a frame o'er done, as the week's excitement and fatigue 

 came towards its end, offers a very different prospect to the 

 man who comes kicking fresh to the covertside on a hunting 

 Monday morn. The fact is, many of us are apt to hunt too 

 much — too much, I mean, to allow of each day wearing its 

 very happiest aspect. But then, who is going to stop at home 

 when the weather is open and there is a horse to go ? No, 

 not I — nor any other to whom the daily toil is such a true 

 labour of love. Life is very short and has many uncertainties. 

 As long as fox-hunting is a certainty and a sure delight, 

 'twould be madness, absolute sin, to neglect a day's oppor- 

 tunity. That such negligence is rare, is shown by the monster 

 fields increasing and accumulating daily. England might be 

 at the zenith of its prosperity or have arrived at an epoch of 

 universal wealth : for never were so many people seen out 

 hunting — or so regularl3% They groan a,nd lament on every 

 hand, it is true, that their stables are but hospitals. But day 

 by day they never foil to put in an appearance with two sound 

 horses suitable to position and requirements — or occasionally 

 more so. Has all Leicestershire j)ledged its birthright ? Or 

 has everyone but your humble and penniless servant inherited 

 a sudden fortune ? " Messrs. Tattersall . . . Avithout reserve 

 ... a gentleman unable to hunt next season . . . &c., Szc." 

 Oh, my prophetic soul, my uncle ! A kingdom — yes, a pound 

 of flesh, if ribs would afford it — for a horse ! This is the 

 maxim now. Consequences hereafter, to be gazetted in due 

 course. 



But of Monday. Welby Fishponds, Saxelby Wood, Grim- 

 ston Gorse, Lord Aylesford's and Dalby Wood, one after the 

 other blank ; merriment all dead or dying ; and the frugality 

 of the sandwich box duly honoured. Then a long trip to 



